After notching the best score Utah State gymnastics has seen in 10 years Friday, the Aggies have a quick turnaround as they head to California for a tri-meet at UCLA Sunday, March 16.

March 15, 2014

LOGAN, Utah -
After notching the best score Utah State gymnastics has seen in 10 years Friday, the Aggies have a quick turnaround as they head to California for a tri-meet at UCLA Sunday, March 16.

Action from the Pauley Pavilion will get underway at 3 p.m. (MT) Sunday, where the Aggies will take on the No. 7 UCLA Bruins as well as the Falcons of Bowling Green State.

Utah State had its best meet of the year Friday, earning a 196.000 to defeat No. 24 Southern Utah, who notched a 195.550. USU had not hit the 196.000 mark since the 2004 season when they did it twice, both times against SUU. The Aggies notched a 49.125 on vault, 48.925 on bars to match the season-best score, a season-high 48.875 on beam and a 49.075 on floor.

UCLA has a season RQS of 196.920 and high score of 197.500. The Bruins will be coming off a long break, with their last meet being on March 7. The team finished second in a tri-meet against No. 8 Michigan and No. 5 Utah in Ann Arbor. Senior Olivia Courtney leads the Bruins on vault, bars and floor, with an RQS above 9.850 on each event. Additionally, she has just one vault that scored less than a 9.900 all season. Freshman Hallie Mossett is the top all-around competitor for UCLA with an RQS of 39.215. The Aggies and Bruins have met 12 times throughout program history, with UCLA leading the all-time series, 9-3. Valorie Turner is in her 24th season as the head coach of the Bruins, but has been with the program since 1983. She is assisted by Chris Waller and Randy Lane.

Bowling Green State is a new challenger for the Aggies as this will be the first-ever meeting between the two programs. However, as a Mid-American Conference school, USU head coach Nadalie Walsh is familiar with the team from her time as the head coach at Ball State. Kerrie Turner is in her sixth season at the helm of the BGSU team, assisted by Taylor Jones and Sunny Marchand. Sophomore Alyssa Nocella leads the team with an all-around RQS of 38.995. The team has a season RQS of 194.690 to be ranked 39th nationally. The Falcons are coming off a season-best performance of 195.925 in a loss at Kent State.

UCLA will provide both live scoring as well as a free video stream. Links to both will be available on the Utah State Athletics website Sunday morning. Fans can also follow the Utah State gymnastics social media outlets for meet updates.

Following Sunday's action, the Aggies will finish the season at the inaugural Mountain Rim Gymnastics Championship. USU will face BYU, Denver, Boise State and Southern Utah in the season-ending. BYU will host the event from the Marriott Center on Saturday, March 22. The meet will begin at 1 p.m. (MT) and will be broadcast on BYUtv.

Fans can follow the USU Gymnastics' Twitter, Facebook and Instagram pages - Twitter:@USUGymanstics, Facebook: Utah State Gymnastics and Instagram: @USUGymnastics. Aggie fans can also follow the Utah State athletic program at twitter.com/USUAthletics or on Facebook at Utah State University Athletics.